Playing card holder



June 8, 1954 w; J. CRANDALL ETAL PLAYING CARDHOLDER Filed Dec. 18. 1950 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM INVENTORS ILLIAM J. CRANDALL E ,YM CRANDBLL JR ENT Patented June 8, 1954 PLAYING CARD HOLDER William J. Crandall and Elly M. Crandall, Landing, N. J., assignors to Click, Inc., Landing, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application December 18, 1950, Serial No. 201,280

2 Claims. (Cl. 273-150) This invention relates generally to supports and more particularly to a device for holding and displacing a plurality of cards during conventional card play.

Various devices have been designed in the past for supporting playing cards but none of these has been satisfactory from a practical standpoint inasmuch as they were characterized by certain undesirable features. For example, some of these prior devices must be held in the hand of a player, some require the use of both hands while removing or inserting playing cards, some have card retaining means which mark or scratch the cards, others are poorly designed so as to be bulky and unwieldy in use although of an insufiicient card holding capacity, while still others have unnecessarily complicated structures resulting in an excessive cost.

Accordingly, the chief object of the present invention is to obviate the disadvantages characterizing the known prior art structures.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an improved playing card holding device which is simple and compact in structure but which will enable the cards to be readily inserted, displayed and removed therefrom with great facility.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide an improved playing card holder in which provision is made for the thickness of overlapping cards so that the full width of any portion of the card receiving slot may be utilized to hold a maximum number of cards.

A still further important object of the present invention is to provide an improved playing card holding device which will hold a plurality of cards in proper display position and which will readily permit the withdrawal of the cards without scratching or marring the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved card holding device which may be simply and economically manufactured and which will be rugged and of long life in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawings, we have shown two embodiments of the invention. In these showings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, parts being broken away, of the card holding device comprising the present invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the invention, taken on the line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a transverse central vertical sec- 2 tional view of another embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, numeral [0 indicates the card holding device as a whole which comprises a relatively thick upstanding base section i2 having an upper wall portion Id of lesser thickness. A pair of identical outer wall members l6 and I8 are fixed to the sides of the base [2 and form a pair of slots 20 and 22 respectively with the upper base portion M.

The wall elements l4, I6 and I8 of the card holding device I!) are semi-circular in form so as to permit the conventional fanning of a plurality of cards when inserted in the slots 20 and 22. An important feature of the invention resides in the provision made for the increased thickness of a group of cards at their radially inner ends when in the fanned position.

A pair of arcuate grooves 24 and 25 are formed in the sides of the base l2 intermediate its height to respectively increase the size ofthe slots 28 and 22. It will be noted that the groove 24 is wider than the groove 26 and each extends to the sides of the base I2. Thus, playing cards may be inserted to a greater depth in the slot 20 than in the slot 22 so that the indicia on both groups of cards is clearly visible when they are faced to the left. Furthermore, the increased size of the slots at their bottoms ensures that the full width of the slots at their tops may be utilized for receiving the overlapping playing cards when in the fanned position.

Another important feature of the invention resides in the means for holding playing cards in their adjusted positions in the slots 2t and 22. Pairs of circumferentially spaced sockets 28 are formed in the upper base portion I 4 and one socket of each pair opens on the wall [6 while the other opens on the wall 18. Each socket 28 contains and guides a spring 30 which urges a ball 32 against the inner face of the walls l6 and (8 which confine the balls in their sockets. When cards are inserted in the slots 20 and 22, the balls are partially forced into the sockets 28 from which position they exert a firm, resilient pressure on the cards. It will be noted that only rolling contact is thus had between the cards and the balls to absolutely prevent marring of the cards. The spherical contour of the balls also eliminates card scratching. Thus cards may be readily inserted in and removed from the device l0 without damage.

While the walls I6 and I8 and the intermediate base section l2--l4 may be formed of wood or metal or combinations thereof, the device it, ex-

cent for the balls and springs, is preferably formed of a suitable plastic by injection or compression molding. The various elements may be readily assembled and fixed together as a unit.

The embodiment of the invention disclosed in Figure 4 is identical with the foregoing except that the sockets 28 are open at both ends and a pair of balls 32 are contained therein and urged apart into contact with the walls It and 18 by the spring 30.

The great utility and convenience of the invention during card playing is readily apparent. In use, the playing card holder in is placed on the table in front of the player leaving both hands free. Cards may be inserted, fanned out, or removed from the holder by the use of only three fingers due to the resilient, rolling, holding force exerted by the balls 32. Because of the arcuate slots 24 and 26, as many as 30 playing cards may be readily held by each of the slots 20 and 22 without interfering with the identification of the cards.

It will now be readily apparent that we have provided a compact playing card holder of maximum capacity which is extremely easy to use and which will not damage the playing cards.

It is to be understood that the forms of our invention herewith shown and described are to be taken as preferred examples of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

We claim:

1. A playing card holder comprising an arcuate wall of greater thickness at its base, a second wall fixed to said base and conforming and cooperating with said first wall to form a semi-circular, card-receiving slot therebetween, a plurality of circumferentially spaced sockets formed in one of said walls, a ball mounted in each of said sockets, and spring means mounted in said sockets and acting on said balls to urge the cards against the other of said walls to retain them in said slot.

2. A playing card holder comprising an arcuate wall of greater thickness at its base, a second wall fixed to said base and conforming and cooperating with said first wall to form a semi-circular, card-receiving slot therebetween, a plurality of circumferentially spaced sockets formed in one of said walls, a ball mounted in each of said sockets, and spring means mounted in said sockets and acting on said balls to urge the cards against the other of said walls to retain them in said slot, said slot being of greater width adjacent its base to receive the overlapping portion of said cards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,221,279 Brisley Apr. 3, 1917 1,731,692 Weindel Oct. 15, 1929 1,903,744 Heusser et al Apr. 11, 1933 1,907,544 Hoffman 1 May 9, 1933 1,944,343 Herman Jan. 23, 1934 2,231,637 Ramos Feb. 11, 1941 2,357,646 Gilbert Sept. 5, 1944 2,474,763 Thomas June 28, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 277,080 Italy Aug. 28, 1930 

